Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Sunken Canal and Thomas Hardy

Another 12 x 9 for the series of Sunken Canal pastels.

I have been reading a biography of Thomas Hardy by Ralph Pite. Hardy was taken by the Impressionists. He wrote, according to Pite, "The 'principle' of Impressionism...is: 'that what you carry away with you from a scene is the true feature to grasp; or in other words, what appeals to your own individual eye and heart in particular amid much that does not appeal, and which you therefore omit to record.' Hardy did not want any longer to see 'scenic paintings' of landscapes but instead 'the deeper reality underlying the scenic.'"

That approach may seem trite or obvious today, but, if so, we forget what a revelation it once was, and maybe one needs to recapture that revelation.


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